Jimmy butler game log

I think I had like thirty to fifty games. I've been logging in, I guess I missed this email, but still it's really frustrating.

I put money on the Celtics at the beginning of the playoffs to win it all this year. During last night's game, after Jimmy knocked down the 3 FTs to put them up by 1, my wife said to me: 'Oh well, I guess you're just unlucky.'
Next thing we know is we're jumping up and down in the living room celebrating what could be the most beautiful play in Celtics basketball history.
IDGAF what the haters say, after witnessing what our team is capable of and the sheer determination these guys have, I truly believe we will win G7 in Boston and make history, 1-150! Then we will beat the Nuggets in 6. I believe in our team, I believe in the Jays, Mazzula, The Buffalo (THANK YOU).
Let's fucking go, Celtics!

I was playing jedi survivor yesterday when my screen froze. I thought it was a glitch surrounding the game so I exited to the home screen and tried to close the app but my PlayStation then completely shut off. When I turned it back on, it forced a factory reset then I had to redownload the software via an USB drive. I redownloaded Jedi Survivor and opened the game to find out the my current game was missing and the only option was to start a new game. On my PlayStation account it still shows all the trophies and time logged I have from the game but in the actual game it does not show my previous progress. Why is this happening? Is there any way to get it back? Please help or let me know any info you have. I was 37 hours in and so close to finishing 😢 I really don’t want to have to completely restart.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Hey, I'd like to invite you all to a really awesome server called Mellow Rust!
We’re a chill, lightly-modded PVE server with PVP zones. Perfect for new players, busy parents, or people who just wanna relax, but don’t wanna play anything too modded.
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Vanilla Loot, Gather, Stacks, Decay, and Upkeep
Plugins and changes include:

• PVP Zones that are clearly designated
• Tool Cupboards have 2x capacity
• Free DLC, P2W items, Sign Artist, and building skins
• Vehicle License with no chat commands
• Craftable blackjack, slots, big wheel, and card tables
• Craftable plants, recyclers, test gens and more
• Deployable Ziplines
• RaidAlarm
• RaidableBases
• Arena Duels and FFA
• PocketDimensions - A base in a box
• Private ESP and Anti-Cheat Tools
• Easier minicopters with headlights and storage
• Fuel gauge
• Car chassis craftable at car lifts
• Unlimited drone range
• Global chat and server logs linked with discord
• No Pay2Win - Donors get Skinbox and Name Colors
• Starter Kits & Daily Reward Kits
• Remove Tool
• NVGs on any clothes
• Craftable and Lockable Pumpjacks and Quarries
• Remove Tool
• UI toggles for those who prefer a clean, empty HUD
• BetterWater - increased water production
• BetterElectrics - full efficiency batteries
• BetterElevators
• Auto Night Light
• More lockables like furnaces, refineries, and shutters
• Items like propane tanks have increased stack sizes

and much more!
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Some of our plugins are exclusively coded by our staff and only exist here!
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Come try the only server that allows NVGs on any clothing items! (image link)
Say goodbye to chat commands! All our chat commands are accessible via an in-game menu
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You can join us on Mellow Rust with any of the following options:
steam://connect/104.129.133.197:28086
connect 104.129.133.197:28086
or just search “mellow” in the modded tab
Discord:
https://discord.gg/fqgEXE7XTT
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Mission Statement:
Our name is our goal. Many people use gaming as an escape from real world problems and we want to help make that easier. From the original creators of the Purge in Rust, this server is meant to be a refuge to all the players who are sick of common issues that may negatively impact your Rust experience!
Our dedicated and highly active Admins have several years of experience running Rust servers. We are incredibly strict against cheaters and spend all day watching for them. Our private anticheat and admins catch even the most low key wallhackers. Game/VAC banned alts, hacked steam profiles, and any other type of disingenous player are not allowed, whether you cheated in Rust or another game.
Mellow Rust is meant to be a refuge to all the legit players who struggle to find a place to play. We strive to minimize anything that may negatively impact your Rust experience! Please don't hesitate to ask us questions or bring up any issues you come across. We're happy to help!
Donors get the VIP role with skinbox and custom name colors. We don’t care about selling VIP here. The perks are just a gift for those who feel like supporting our server and it’s goals.

Hi All,
Event if accessing the game still works, it appears to me about a week ago that there no way to log into their support site anymore. I'm using this url: https://support.gamigo.com/hc/en-us but loading page never completes and when it seem to do so after a long time, clicking on the "Sign-In" button has the same endless long time. After that time, there is a pop-up stating something like "the authentication server can not be accessed, check your network settings". As I opened a ticket two weeks ago, I'm sure the networks settings are fine...
Any hint from the Rift Community here ?

I've been using this LO for some time and made some changes to it(not mid playthrough of course) and most recently i've been getting constant crashes when going in either hall of attainment or hall of countenance, but hall of elements is loading fine. I think the problem is with the loading and not the area itself since loading a save of a character that's already inside works just fine, it's going through the door that makes it so at the ending of the loading the game just freezes. I thought it was The Magical College Bundle, but thats been on my LO for quite a while and that never happened before, so either some mod that wasn't there before is causing it or some updated caused it. Here's the LO, with the most recent additions having an * at the end of their name and the + before if they're a patch for other mods. Any advice for the LO in general is welcome as well :)
• Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch
• Unofficial Skyrim Survival Patch
• Reconciliation: QOL and Bugfixes
• +USSEP
• Unofficial Creation Club Updates - October Pack [XB1]*
• Simple Workaround Framework*
• Omen Weathers*
• Run For Your Lives
• Realistic Conversations
• Guard Dialogue Overhaul
• Skyrim Reputation
• Better Intimidation
• Even Better Quest Objectives
• The Choice Is Yours
• At your own pace - AIO/Listen
• Trained and Skilled*
• Laro's Perks, Magics and More
• Guild Leader Perks
• XP32 Maximum Skeleton+Realistic Ragdoll and Force
• Feminine Females
• Gritty Animation Requiem 2.0
• Cloaks face masks and all sorts 2
• Visible Favorited Gear
• Wear Multiple Rings
• Wearable Lanterns
• Become a Bard
• Mystical Scholarship: The Magical College Bundle 1K
• Merchants Chests on Display
• Night Mother's Embrace - An Assassin's Tale
• Walk With The Shadows - A Nightingale Bundle
• Comprehensive First Person Animation Overhaul - CFPAO
• Rebalanced Leveled Lists
• Rebalanced Encounter Zones and Leveled Actors
• OBIS - SE (full version)
• DLC Integration
• Stronger Bosses Skyrim
• Enhanced Atronachs - With Levelling and Luminosity
• Reliquary of Myth
• True Lords of Oblivion
• Dragon Priest Masks Tweaks
• Dragon Priest Staffs
• Rich Skyrim Merchants
• JaySerpa's Quest Expansion Bundle
• Melodies of Skyrim: All In One*
• Reverb and Ambiance Overhaul
• Phenderix Magic Sounds Improved
• Enhanced Draugr Fx
• Display Enhancements
• Relighting Skyrim
• ELE Interior Lighting Overhaul
• SMIM Essentials
• Vivid Landscapes - Alternate Tundra
• WizKid Signs
• 3D Log Farmhouse Fences
• Skyland - Dirt Roads
• Dark Ages: Sky Haven Temple and Alduin's Wall
• Detailing The Eldritch - Complete
• Dark Ages: Dragon Textures
• Draugr Retexture: Bloody Black
• Ultimate Sephoraz Beauty Bundle
• Flesh Spells Fx Restored[XB1]*
• Heavy Armory - New Weapons
• Old Kingdom - Armor Overhaul
• Old Kingdom - Weapon Overhaul
• + USSEP
• Old Kingdom - Crafting Add-On
• Glorious Dwarven Metal - Old Kingdom
• Elaborate Textiles Alternate
• (Lite) Guard Armor Overhaul
• Konahrik's Accoutrements
• Skyrim Sewers Bundle
• Unique Armors & Weapons - Unenchanted And Craftable
• Greener Glass
• SeeEnchantments
• Lockpicking Interface Redone*
• Embers HD
• Natural Forces Bundle - Wet
• Frozen Electrocuted Combustion - Realistic
• Cannibal Draugr on Solstheim
• Dwemer Spectres
• Sylvan Spirits
• Real Wildlife
• Birds of Skyrim
• Birds And Flocks
• Prismatic Insects
• Kiss My Grass
• Treeslod_23
• Landscape Fixes For Grass Mods
• Bells of Skyrim
• Tactical Valtheim
• Halted Stream Mine
• Provincial Courier Service
• MAP - Project Hippie
• Trees in Cities
• Riften Eastern Road
• Manor Roads
• Man Those Borders!
• EasierRider's Dungeon Pack
• The Blackest Reaches
• The Marshlands
• Master The Summit
• Nordic Ruins Of Skyrim
• Holidays
• Lanterns of Skyrim - Special Edition
• Lost Enchantments for The Discerning Adventurer
• Perk Points Per Level
• Truly Absorb Dragon Souls - Heavy
• VioLens
• More Blood and Gore!
• Know Your Enemy - All in One
• + AIO + OKA
• Immersive Movement
• Smilodon
• + Immersive Movement
• + Realistic Damage
• Mortal Enemies
• + Immersive Movement
• Better Combat AI
• Realistic AI Detection
• Sneak Tools
• Archery Tweaks Plus
• Silent Arrows
• More Effective Blocking
• No Draugr Disarm
• The Fire Within - Shouts Powered by DragonSouls
• Clear UI - Not So Sensible Preset*
• Pastel Map Markers*
• Updated Mine Markers
• Cheat Room
• Quest Debugger
• Free Player Home Heartfire Building*
• Improved Backpacks V2*
• Kip Ahrk Bahlok - Food and Hunger
• Dragonborn and Dawnguard Delayed
• Mystic Condenser
• Readable Shadomarks*
• Awesome Potions Simplified by Revoith
• Flying Vampire Lord
• Alternate Start - Live Another Life
• Abandoned Prison Tweaks
• + EBQO - Alternate Start
• Relationship Dialogue Overhaul
• + RDO - USSEP
• Immersive Hunter Dialogue
• Immersive Follower Framework
• + RDO
• YOU DON'T KNOW ME - No NPC Greetings
• Bat Vampire Lord

Hi! I saw a prompt on /writingprompts and wrote a story around it, I'd love to get some feedback. This is my first attempt at trying to write something since like highschool.
The prompt was:
​
You’re an astronaut on a deep space mission. You invent an imaginary friend to help stay sane. Upon finally returning, Mission Control stops you. There’s an unidentified life form on board with you.
​
Story:
​
It all started when I woke up from stasis. NASA had warned me that things would be weird for the first few hours after waking up and to take it easy, but when they had said ‘weird’ I had never expected this.
“Will you cut that out?” I said to John as he leaned back in the copilot chair humming a tune I couldn’t quite recognize.
“Sorry man, didn’t mean to harsh your vibes.”
John, apparently, was my imaginary friend. I don’t really remember dreaming him up, but he insists I did when I came out of stasis. I have vague memories of him while I was in stasis. He appeared in different dreams, or maybe memories from my childhood? Did I have a childhood imaginary friend? I honestly couldn’t remember.
“Woooaaahh dude. I just had the craziest thought.” John said.
I focused on the control station I was working at, trying my best to ignore him.
“What if when we get to Earth there’s like, a real version of me, you know?”
I turned and stared at him, “what on Earth are you talking about?”
“Well actually brosef, I’m not on Earth, I’m inside the ship. Are you still trippin’ from the stasis?”
I clamped my eyes shut and groaned, turning back to my station.
“I just mean like, so you imagined me, right? But what if you based me off a real person. So, what happens when we meet? Will he and I fuse into one person? Or will like, your head explode from seeing both of us at the same time?”
That made me pause for a moment. Had I imagined him from a real person? I racked my brain trying to think of anyone I knew named John, but I couldn’t think of any.
“I don’t know a John, sadly you’re wholly original in your annoying nature.”
He blew a raspberry, “dude come on, John is like, what, the most common male name in America? And you’re telling me you don’t know a John? Come onnnnnnnnnn.”
--
Eight months later and John was still here, and as annoying as ever. Today his choice of annoying entertainment was bouncing a tennis ball against the wall of the ship.
“Where did you even get a tennis ball?”
“Oh, you know man, around. Do you wanna try? It’s a pretty fun game.”
“No, I’m busy. We have to make sure these burns are executed correctly, or we’ll miss Earth.”
John rolled his eyes and went back to throwing the ball.
“Why are you so worried about getting back to Earth?”
I stared at him, hoping if I stared hard enough, he’d just disappear. “Why wouldn’t I want to get back to Earth? It’s our home, remember? And, if we get back, I can get away from you.”
John laughed, “Brosef, you imagined me, remember? Why don’t you just like, unimagine me if I’m bothering you so much?”
“Don’t you think I’ve tried that?” I said, resting my head in my hands, pressing my palms into my eyes until I saw stars.
John looked down at the floor, pouting. “Why you got to be so mean man, I’m just tryin’ to make this ride a liiiittle more entertaining.”
I let out a sigh, he was certainly annoying, but he was also my only friend, and was going to be for a very, very long time.
“I’m sorry, you’re right. Why don’t we do something fun? What do you want to do?”
John perked up, and I knew instantly I had made a mistake.
“You really mean that? We could do something fun? I have the BEST idea.”
I nodded, defeated. I had learned it was best to just get it over with instead of arguing with John. He could be very, very persistent.
“What’s the idea?” I said, putting on my best “I’m listening and am interested” face that I could.
He paused, sitting up straight. “Okay, here me out. So, like, what if we went on like, an epic road trip.”
He shot me the most excited, kid in a candy shop look.
I cocked my head at him, trying to read his expression for the hint of a joke in there, but I didn’t see one. “Aren’t we already on an epic road trip? We’re in SPACE John, alone, together, for another three years. Does it get any more epic than that?”
He scoffed, “yeah but like, we aren’t seeing anything, we aren’t going anywhere, we’re just drivin’ along, going back home. That’s no fun. We should be stopping places, going on whacky adventures.”
I looked around, balling my toes up trying to find an outlet for my frustration.
“Where do you want to stop, John? Again, we’re in SPACE. There’s literally nothing anywhere. What, you want to go stop at that proton molecule just floating out there?”
John rolled his eyes and went back to throwing his tennis ball.
“I knew you wouldn’t get it. Don’t you remember when we were kids, we went on that epic road trip across the country? We stopped, where was it, like, Idaho? No wait, Indiana, that’s right. We saw that maaaassive ear of corn? That was awesome! We need to do stuff like that, man.”
I paused, a chill working its way up my spine. “How do you know about that?”
John threw me a smirk, “come on bro, you created me, remember? Of course, I have memories from you.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t invent you until recently, you weren’t around back then. How could you know that?”
John stopped throwing his stupid tennis ball and turned to me. “Look, I don’t have the time or energy to teach you about the human-imaginary friend memory bonding structure, but trust me, that’s how it works.”
I wanted to press him for more information but knew it wouldn’t go anywhere. When he didn’t want to talk about something, he found every tiny way to distract from it until I gave up, so I decide to just give up early.
“Okay, so yeah, when we were kids, we saw the giant ear of corn. Where is that? Oh right, back on Earth. Where’s the giant space ear of corn John?”
I played up looking around the ship, putting my hand to my forehead to block the sun.
“Because I’m not seeing it, are you?”
He went back to throwing his tennis ball. “They probably don’t have a giant space ear of corn. But they could have other stuff. What if we went to Titan? Oh, oh! Or Enceladus! That would be sooo chill.” He giggled to himself. “Get it? Because it’s frozen?”
“I. Get. The. Joke.” I said through gritted teeth.
“Come on man, we could be there in like three weeks. Take a little pit spot on Titan since you clearly are against Enceladus for some reason. We could just a day, maybe two, then burn hard back for Earth. We’d lose what, like 5 days? That’s noooothin’ man.”
It would be cool to see Titan, the only moon with a substantial atmosphere, and the only other place besides Earth that had rivers and oceans.
“Think about it bro, we could catch some like, Titan fish. How long has it been since we’ve had fish?”
“A long, long time.” I said, my mouth watering at the thought of food that wasn’t in slushie form.
I shook my head, snapping myself out of it. “We can’t go to Titan, John. NASA would be pissed. We need to get back to Earth.”
John rolled his eyes. “You’re always so worried about what they’ll think. Oh, NASA wouldn’t like that. Oh, NASA wouldn’t approve of that. No John, we can’t have any fun because the fun police at NASA would be upset. Boohoo. Screw NASA. Let’s have some FUN!”
I had to chuckle at that. While I didn’t have the same rebellious streak as John did, I certainly got annoyed at all the rules and regulations we had to follow daily from NASA when it had been years since we had last heard from them.
“So, whadda think? Titan adventure?” John was looking at me with his best winning smile.
I sighed, “no, John. No Titan adventures. The only way we could possibly detour would be if we got a distress call, which is impossible since no one lives on Titan or has ever gone to Titan.”
John groaned his disapproval for my staunch commitment to the unbendable and boring rules of NASA and went back to throwing his ball.
I felt bad, he seemed really excited about Titan. And I had to admit, it was an exciting idea. But there was no way we could justify to NASA detouring to go to Titan. Our mission was clear, get back to Earth as fast as possible.
I stared at my control panel trying to remember what I had been working on.
--
“PING. PING. PING.”
“Brosef, wake up man! Wake up!”
I bolted up out of my seat, or I tried to. My shoulders ached from where the seat restraints pulled against me in my failed attempt to stand up.
“Wow that hurts. Every time man I swear to God one of these days, I’m going to cut these restraints out of the seat.”
John chuckled, “yeah you sure do that a lot.” He was sitting back in the copilot chair with his feet up on the control panel.
“What is that pinging? And why were you yelling at me?”
John sat upright, “oh right! Dude, you’ll never believe what happened.”
He sat in silence, on the edge of his seat.
“What, John?”
“John? Hello?” He let out a laugh, “sorry, had to build suspense. This is truly, epic.”
He got up and pointed at the control panel. “We got a distress signal from Titan, bro!”
I jumped out of my seat; this time having taken my restraints off beforehand. I ran over to the control panel and checked.
Sure enough, there it was. A distress beacon coming from Titan. I typed out a few commands asking the computer to recheck the signals origin. The computer confirmed it was correct. There was a distress beacon coming from Titan.
John was jumping up and down chanting, “We’re going to Titan, we’re going to Titan. Who’s going to Titan? We’re going to Titan!”
A feeling of dread crept up from the floor, enveloping me. I slowly turned and looked up at him.
“John… You didn’t do this, did you?”
He stopped jumping and stared at me, confused. “What? What are you talking about brosef?”
The gears in my mind started turning as I tried to put the fear into words.
“You wanted to go to Titan, insisted we go. I tell you the only way we can go is if we get a distress call, and now, we get a distress call from Titan.”
“Woaaah woah woah. WOAH.” He spattered, throwing his arms up in the air. “I’m gonna stop you right there broheim.”
Broheim, that was a new one. I kind of liked it, at least compared to brosef.
“If you think for one second that I CAUSED a distress signal from Titan just to get us to go there, you’re crazy.”
“Well, how do you explain this?” My feeling of dread was solidifying into anger.
“Dude, listen to yourself. I can’t cause a distress signal. How would I even do that? For one, I’d have to somehow control something on titan to tell it to emit a distress signal. Let’s dig into that. One, THERE’S NOTHING ON TITAN BUT WATER AND DIRT.”
“You could have sent down a probe to beacon back” I said, scrambling for potential ways he could have betrayed me.
He gave me an exhausted eye roll. “Check the logs bro, check the probe bays. There are no probes launched, no probes missing.”
I pulled up the probe inventory on the control panel, he was right. All our remaining probes were accounted for.
“Fine, all the probes are there.”
He gave me a proud eyebrow raise and puffed out his chest. “Seeee? And secondly, and I feel like I shouldn’t have to emphasize this but apparently I do because you’ve clearly gone crazy.”
He bent down to be eye level with me in my chair, “I’M IMAGINARY.”
Huh. He had me there.
I closed my eyes, trying to think. He didn’t send a probe, nothing existed on Titan for him to hack into to send the distress signal. Was this just one big coincidence?
I pulled up the communications buffer, the only other thing I could think of. There were no new messages sent by us.
“Well now what?” I asked him.
“It’s so simple bromigo. We go to Titan, rescue whoever is down there. Bring them back to Earth and become National, nay, International, nay again, PLANETARY heroes. I’m going to start writing my acceptance speech.”
I had to laugh at that. Planetary heroes did sound pretty awesome.
I turned in my chair toward the control panel. “I’m going to ask NASA what to do.”
John groaned a deep, frustrated groan. He pinched the bridge of his nose and said, “Dude, you can’t wait around for NASA. It’s going to take months for them to answer, maybe even years with all the hemming and hawing they do at any tiny decision, let alone the transmission time between us and them. Like you said the other day, we can’t delay.”
I frowned. He certainly had a point. “I’m going to send them a message telling them what we’re doing, but you’re right. We’ll have to do this on our own.”
He rolled his eyes, “if you must, but I think it’s going to be a bigger headache than it’s worth bromigo.”
I stared at him, “how could we possibly explain to NASA where we found a few extra astronauts when we get back to Earth? Oh yeah don’t mind them, we just picked up a few hitchhikers on the way back home.”
John laughed at that, “yeah that would be pretty hilarious.”
I began typing up a message to NASA. “This is the Celestial Pathfinder”, “that’s such a cool name,” John whispered to me. I waved my hand at him to be quiet.
“We have received a distress signal from the surface of Titan. While we know it is urgent for us to return to Earth as quickly as possible, we’re going to investigate. I can’t in good conscious leave another astronaut stranded out here, and the round-trip communication time is too long for us to wait for a reply from you. Be advised we may be returning to Earth with extra passengers. Celestial Pathfinder out.”
John nodded his approval, “very diplomatic of you bro.” He raised out a fist for me to bump and I obliged.
Now, how do we get to the surface of Titan.

Ok, so I've seen some people talk about their game crashing. . . but few people have tried figuring out what's causing it. My game has been crashing ever since I started playing a new server with my friends on the mistlands update.
I've narrowed down the cause to what SEEMS like looking into the mistlands. I don't get a BepInEx log or anything giving me an error. . . SOMETIMES it'll say that a texture isn't able to load. But that doesn't seem to be the cause cuz it's crashing without that error.
I can run around my base in the black forest fine and just build if necessary. I've run around in the plains without issue. It MAY be crashing when looking at the swamp from a distance too. But I'm not sure about that yet.
Does that give any indication on what it might be and how to troubleshoot it?
Appreciate any help

In hindsight, I should have listened to the kill-bill alarm bells in my head when eight-year-old Cassie announced she and her cabin mates were going to skip out on camp activities and play Operation instead.
Though it’s not like I didn’t have things on my mind. Seven counsellors had gone missing—along with our head counsellor who was supposed to be taking care of us.
It started out fairly normal. I mean, one or two counselors wasn’t bad, right?
Lily and Joey had been drowning in sexual tension for a while, so nobody was surprised when they sneaked into the woods for what I could only guess was the most uncomfortable sex ever. But then they didn’t come back.
Teddy and Yuri went to look for them, and then they too also disappeared. It was almost like a wild animal was lying in wait for another unsuspecting teenager to cross its path.
With six of us left, I was definitely freaking out.
I wasn’t expecting summer camp to be like this. I did consider working in my local Sephora, but mom had a preference—and whether I was eighteen years old or not, she was getting her way. So, it was goodbye civilization, and hello Canadian wilderness.
There were fifteen kids queued up in front of me for lunch, and I was having a hard time keeping that optimistic Camp Redwood smile.
I couldn’t help constantly counting how many hours it had been since the latest disappearance, Connor.
He was supposed to be helping with getting the emergency generator going, after the electricity sizzled out.
The boy was gone an hour later. This was happening fast. Whatever was going on with the counsellors was burning through all of us. Would it happen to me?
I had seen so many TV shows and movies set in a summer camp where every camper and counsellor was doomed to die in the grossest way possible. Was that going to happen to us?
I tightened my grip around the stupid ladle I had found myself stirring, a giant pot of chocolate syrup. Watching watery chocolate drip from the edge, I felt nauseous. Of all the summer camp’s mom had to send me to, it had to be the one with vanishing counsellors and zero adult authority. Which meant we were the authority. Twelve teenagers who came to relax and babysit a bunch of little kids before college.
We had to put on brave faces and pretend everything was absolutely fine—and we weren’t all terrified out of our fucking minds.
At the corner of my eye, I glimpsed Harry offering piggybacks to a bunch of little kids, with one of the littles, Eleanor, wrapping her arms around his neck and squealing.
From the look on the boy’s face, he wanted to stop. It was hard to keep a façade when reality was becoming harder and harder to bear. Abandoning his hat completely, Harry was dripping with sweat, trying to twist his lips into the Camp Redwood grin. But looking closer, as he galloped across the cabin with Eleanor holding on for dear life, the guy was ready to collapse. I didn’t blame him.
Entertaining the kids was supposed to be Teddy’s assignment—and he was who knows where. I had taken over lunch duties for Lily, who had joined the long list of the missing.
Harry was supposed to be joining the search party for the missing councellors, but had ended up becoming the little’s personal punching bag.
When I first met him, Harry Carlisle had been the kid who sat on the side-lines and offered sarcastic remarks and crude jokes. Now, he had been reduced to a playground ride the kids pretended didn’t have an off switch.
He had enjoyed maybe the first two rides to raise morale, but now I could see the strain in his eyes. “Ow!” Harry winced when the little girl’s fingers prodded at his eyes. “Hey! Eleanor, not my eyes!” He was dangerously close to toppling over, though managed to catch his footing, ordering all of them off of his back. “Horse Rides are over!” He cupped his mouth, shouting across the cabin when a group of kids surrounded him with equally terrifying faces. Harry backed away and threw his hands up. “Come on, guys, my back isn’t built for all of you!”
“Horsey!” The kids shouted back in a cacophony of giggles.
It was 10 against one.
Against two, if I got involved. Which wasn’t going to happen. There was no way I was putting effort into play-fighting a bunch of eight-year-olds. Harry shot me a hopeful look, though I pretended not to see, busying myself with slightly burned nuggets.
Running his fingers through thick strands of sandy colored hair, Harry pulled a face when a little girl, Phoebe, was brave enough to step forward.
“No.” Harry shook his head, squeezing the front of his counsellor shirt practically glued to him. The temperature still hadn’t let up, and it was heading towards 8PM. Night-time, I thought dizzily. It was almost bedtime, and still no adults. “I refuse to surrender,” He told her. “Phoebe, I am not joking around when I’m saying my back is hurting. We’ve been playing horsey’s for two hours.”
“So?”
“So!” Harry couldn’t yell or hiss, or swear at them. That was a big no-no with kids.
However, I could see he was coming close to breaking that rule. “Because I’m tired,” he said through a Camp Redwood grin, which was quickly twitching into a grimace.
I think all of us had given up with the fake enthusiasm when our colleagues started to vanish. Now, we were just shells of our former happy selves. “And… uh… did you know that if you ride a horsey at this time, the ghosts will come and get you?”
When a boy opened his mouth, his eyes widening with fright, Harry realized his mistake.
“I mean the nice ghosts! Yeah! The uh, the nice ghosts who haunt..I mean play in these woods? It’s a well-known Camp Redwood legend that ghosts don’t like horse rides. In fact,” his lips curved into a devilish smile now he had several faces staring at him. The kids dropped onto the ground to listen, their hands clasped in their laps. This was the quietest they had been all day. I could understand though. Harry had taken the reins around the campfire telling ghost stories for three nights in a row, and the guy was a damn good storyteller.
With every eye on him, Harry lowered his voice into a whisper. “Do you guys want to know what they do?”
The kids nodded with wide eyes.
“They sneak into unsuspecting cabin’s…”
“Harry.”
Rowan’s voice came from outside in a warning. The window was open, and the guy was standing watch to see if any counsellors came back. Since the only adult had disappeared, he had been appointed leader—and the guy was taking himself a little too seriously.
His warning was valid though. Sometimes Harry’s ghost stories were a little too scary for little kids, who’s Imaginations tended to run wild—especially at night. Olive, my cabin-mate, had to give up her bed for a little girl who was convinced Harry’s depiction of Slenderman, “The tree boy” was going to sneak into her bed and turn her into an apple seed.
“Did I say sneak into cabin’s? I meant dance around the woods…” Harry corrected himself. “And they look for their next unsuspecting victim…”
“Harry!”
“Friend.” Harry swallowed his words when a little boy’s eyes went wide. “I mean they are looking for a friend! So, the point of my story is…”
“Horsey rides get us new friends?” Phoebe wasn’t buying it. I could tell from the slight arch of her brow and her widening smile.
The girl shook dark curls out of her face, smirking. I think it was her pleading eyes which won him over. Because, with a sigh which definitely wasn’t joking around, the guy dropped onto his knees and practically spat at her to climb on his back—and she did, plonking one sparkling shoe on top of the boy’s spine with enough force to send him onto his stomach. I might have been imagining it, but since when were these littles so outlandishly spiteful?
The little girl was grinning. Not because she could ride her “horsey” but because Harry looked like he was going to either wring her neck, or wring his own. Mom had a “talk” before I started here, and she made sure to tell me that if adult authority is nowhere to be seen, little kids will start to act out.
I could definitely call it acting out, but I had spent all day with her several days earlier playing with dolls and having a teddy bear picnic when she admitted she didn’t want to swim in the lake with the other kids. Phoebe had been shy and only spoke to me through her teddy bear, so what had changed?
Could the lack of adults really be scaring the kids that much?
“Miss Josie?”
I wasn’t paying attention, half noticing some kids had just helped themselves, piling chicken nuggets and cookies on plastic plates and hurrying to their seats like I couldn’t see them.
Blinking away brain fog, I found myself face to face with Eli, who was probably my favorite camper.
You’re not supposed to have personal preferences when working with little kids, because your opinions could upset them.
However, it was incredibly hard not to like Eli.
Hiding behind a mop of brown curls, the boy was one of the more vocal kids in the group. Eli said he wanted to be an inventor when he was older, and he wanted to make robots. The kid had asked me if I wanted to see his robot collection, but I was too busy with setting up camp activities. Standing in front of me and clutching his tray, the boy was frowning.
“Josie, I just saw some kids steal chicken nuggets.”
I shrugged, shovelling a large portion on his tray. “Well, you can have some extra too.”
Eli’s smile wasn’t as big as usual. “Where’s Teddy?”
I pretended to be oblivious, hastily adding more nuggets to his tray as if I could keep his mouth shut with extra food. “He’ll be back soon! Teddy is just playing in the woods.”
“No, he’s not.”
At first, I thought I’d heard the boy wrong. The kid wasn’t looking at me, counting his nuggets as usual with the prongs of his plastic fork.
I leaned forward with my best smile. “I’m sorry, what was that, Eli?”
The kid lifted his head with a wide grin. “Can I borrow a knife, Josie?”
“Why do you need a knife?”
Leaning forward, the boy shrugged. “There’s a squirrel caught in a trap,” he said. “I want to put it out of its misery, Miss Josie. It’s in a lot of pain.”
That was… dark.
“Well, I can’t give you a knife…” I trailed off, my gaze finding Harry and the growing line of kids awaiting a horse-ride. “But! How about you go and ask Harry for a piggy-back ride?” I pointed to myself with a forced grin. “I’ll save the squirrel!” And when the boy’s eyes filled with tears and he shook his head, I reached out, grasped his hand, and squeezed it as tight as I could. “Eli, we don’t need to do that, okay? I’m sure the squirrel can be saved and I’ll make sure to take it to the vet, okay?”
“But what if it doesn’t need saving?”
I squeezed tighter. “I’ll save it, Eli. I promise.”
Eli didn’t look convinced, but he nodded with a grumble. “Okay.” He said, before twisting around and joining the other kids torturing Harry. Immediately, I left my station—whether Rowan liked it or not—and headed outside to look for this supposedly dying squirrel. That was something we didn’t need. The sky was darkening when I made it into the woods, cotton candy clouds blurring through the thick canopy of trees. Eli said it was near the sign pointing towards the lake. Though I couldn’t see anything. Odd. That thought retracted in my head, however, when I stepped forward, and a squelching sound cut through the silence of my own heavy breaths mixing with insect chitters and nightlife buzzing above me and beneath me. The wet sounding squelch twisted my gut, and when I stared down at the ground, I didn't know what I was expecting.
A squashed squirrel, perhaps? In Eli’s words, the poor thing had been on the edge of death. Though, when I was thinking about it, there were no animal traps around camp. That was basic health and safety. So, what the fuck was I looking at? The bottom of my shoe was caked in dried blood, but it was the thing which was stamped into the dirt which sent my heart into my throat. It looked like an eye.
But looking closer as I lowered myself to the ground, I glimpsed something metallic, something glistening around the pupil. I picked up a stick and prodded it, though the thing didn’t move. It was definitely an eye—the eye of some kind of animal, judging from the pigmentation and the color of the iris.
But it was the metallic pieces around the eye which was throwing me off. Part of a trap, maybe? It wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that a poor critter had been ripped apart, and a wild bear had dropped its dinner near the camp—and the metal encasing its eye was most likely pieces of trap.
Peering closer, though, I glimpsed silver slithers in what appeared to be the destroyed nerve caked to my shoe. After scraping most of it off, I caught glistening pieces of blood stained metal catching the late-setting sun. This time, I pinched a piece between my forefinger and thumb. It didn’t look like a bear-trap. The metal itself wasn’t serrated or old. In fact, it was new.
Which begged the question: What was this thing?
Whatever it was, it had started converting what looked like a critter’s eye, before stopping. Was it a virus? When that thought slammed into me, I fell back with a hiss, swiping my hands on my shirt.
“What are you doing?”
I almost jumped out of my skin, diving to my feet.
Carmel was standing behind me, grasping what looked like her sixth or seventh coffee. The girl had been running to and from the coffee machine all day, and I had been silently counting how much caffeine she was consuming. Carmel had been a well put together and fairly popular girl when camp started. She immediately had everyone following her beck and call, all of the boy’s (and girl’s) following her around.
Carmel wasn't straight. She made that clear on the bus to camp, announcing she wasn’t interested in guy’s, and that she had a girlfriend back home. Still though, the guy’s still followed her because... well, she was pretty.
Carmel was my bunk-mate and had woken me up on three separate occasions at 6am to go through the exact same hair and makeup routine. Now though, there was no sign of makeup or even that she had brushed her hair.
Instead of its usual tidy blonde ponytail, Carmel’s curls were tied into raggedy pigtails with ribbons I was sure she had stolen from a camper’s doll. I think what was keeping her going was coffee.
Carmel regarded me with too-wide eyes and a Camp Redwood smile we all knew was fake. She was grasping onto her coffee cup for dear life. “Josie!” she jumped when I jumped, which almost made me laugh. “Rowan’s having an emergency meeting in his cabin,” she said.
“So, whatever you’re doing can wait.”
Her gaze flicked to the ground. “What… are you doing?”
For a brief moment, I considered telling Carmel I may have found what looked like a virus which turned flesh and blood to metal—before I remembered her reaction when a spider had crept into our cabin.
Whatever this thing was, keeping it a secret for now was probably what was best. Making sure I was standing on the thing, I shrugged. “I was looking for the others.”
Carmel cocked her head, before resting her coffee on the ground. “In the dirt?”
“Footprints, Carmel.”
The girl looked confused before shaking her head. “Okay, whatever. Tell the others I’ll be there in a sec, I just need to make sure the kids are okay. We’re putting a movie on for them in the lunch hall, so that will hopefully distract them for maybe two hours.”
I nodded. “Did anyone find a phone?”
“Not with signal.”
“Carmel.” I had to fight back the urge to yell at her to keep her voice down. Kids were curious, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we had some littles peeking into our conversation. “You’re okay.” I said softly.
“I mean, we’re not okay, because yes, things are very.. screwed up right now, but we need to be… optimistic.” I exhaled out a breath, searching for eyes in the dark. I tried to smile, tried to keep up that Camp Redwood façade we were all held hostage by until the last day of camp (According to rule 5 in the Camp Redwood counsellor handbook, all counsellors must retain a smile and a positive attitude. If any counselor is caught making a frowny face, or spreading what we call “unhappiness” we will be forced to send the counselor home).
At this point, I didn’t give a fuck—but part of me didn’t want to scare the little kids.
“No, Josie.” The girl grasped hold of my shoulders with a grin rivalling the joker. “I am so sick of being told to keep smiling, because what is that doing? Three of my cabin-mates are missing! I’m the one left, and Rowan and co expect me to keep up this act? We are fucked!"
She cupped her mouth. “F. U. C. K. E. D. We have zero adults, an unexplainable loss of power every few hours which makes no sense in the middle of nowhere—I mean what the fuck is out there which is sucking that much power, huh? There is no explanation! There should be an explanation. I should be able to think, “oh, yeah! That’s why! But no. Things are happening, and I don’t know why they’re happening. Rowan is trying to force us to act like things are okay —but in reality? He is shitting himself, Josie! We are ALL shitting ourselves!”
I took a step back, keeping hold of her hand. Carmel was trembling, her hands clammy and slimy entangled in mine. “He's just trying to keep the kids from freaking out."
She groaned, tears glistening in her eyes. “Okay, yeah! I’m blaming them because they keep acting like everything is okay—”
“Everything IS okay.” I turned to her with what I hoped was a reassuring smile—knowing damn well about the thing I’d found in the dirt. If that thing could spread, it would have a field day in an enclosed space like a summer camp.
I noticed my own hands which had been touching the thing making contact with Carmel, and dropped my hands, inwardly squirming.
If that thing was a virus, I was already fucked.
Maybe Carmel too.
If it was fast acting, it could explain the counsellor disappearances. I was already putting together a plan in my head as we headed back to the main cabin. We had to put together a search party. Some of us would stay with the kids, while a small group would venture into the woods to try and look for traces of the missing. If I was right, we would find a horror scene in the woods, and yes, that would be the time to panic.
If I was wrong, however, there was still hope.
“Are we going to be okay?”
Carmel’s voice sliced into my thoughts, and I took a moment to drink in the camp around us.
Usually, when the sky was turning twilight, it would be bustling with campers and counselors toasting marshmallows on the fire and gathering around to fall asleep to Harry’s ghost stories. Carmel would be knelt with a bunch of kids, watching a YouTube video they had all insisted on her watching, while Rowan would be hiding behind his book with his knees to his chest, his gaze glued to every page he flicked through, ignoring everyone.
Teddy, making funny faces for kids who were scared, and Connor, handing out plates of burgers and hot dogs. I remembered feeling safe and at home, cosy around the flickering orange of the fire as chatter turned to laughter and white-noise in my head. After the kids went back to their cabins, the group of us would resume positions around the fire, but this time it was more… intimate. With Allison in her cabin, we kind of ignored her rules all together.
Making out happened, because of course it did. Beers stolen from Allison’s mini fridge and raging hormones, as well as late-night skinny dipping in the lake did that. Couples went off into the woods, and we all felt completely comfortable and at home with each other.
Looking around at that moment, I felt sick to my stomach. That feeling was gone.
The feeling of family and familiarity and friendship. What I was looking at now was that same log we had all sat on, now turned on its side—hot dog buns and candy wrappers littering the ground. It was a ghost camp.
I could still see Connor’s jacket slung on the ground, and Lili’s bright pink ray bans sitting on a beer can. Because there were no adults to yell at us to clean up after ourselves. I was frowning at the skeleton of the fire when Carmel nudged me. “Hey.” Her voice was shaking slightly. “Josie? You didn’t answer my question.” Carmel wanted me to be the voice of reason, and I wasn’t that. I was just as scared as her.
There was only so much I could sugar-coat, and I gave up doing that after the third counsellor disappeared. All I could offer her was forced optimism.
“Yes.” I said. “Just keep the kids busy, alright?”
“Right.”
When I was twisting around and power-walking to Rowan’s cabin, I shouted over my shoulder, “Give them some of those animal crackers!”
“What animal crackers?”
I turned to elaborate, but Carmel was gone.
When I finally got to Rowan’s cabin, I was sweating through my shirt, and had an idea of what I was going to tell the others. It was… a thing. Which could be considered a disease or a virus—so it was vital that we split into two groups; half of us would search for the others, while the others would look for anything to get in contact with the outside world. An emergency landline, laptop, or cell phone.
I did have one problem, which was lack of evidence. All which was left from the thing I’d found was stuck to my foot. The rest of it was buried in the dirt. It was too dark to search for it, and we would be wasting time doing so.
All of that was in my mind and tangled on my tongue, one single string of incomprehensible gibberish I wasn’t even sure was English, when I stepped into Rowan’s cabin, where four sets of eyes met mine. Olive, cross legged on the floor with her arms folded, Harry, pacing up and down with a brand new bruise blooming under his eye, courtesy of Eleanor almost poking his eyes out—and Rowan himself sitting on top bunk, his legs swinging off of the side.
The guy wasn’t built to be our leader, originally being the laziest of our group, opting for sitting in a tree with a book, rather than helping set up camp activities. Yet he had become our default guy in charge because he so happened to be wearing the head counsellor hat when Allison disappeared. Admittedly, it suited him, the bright red of the cap contrasted his dark curls under a late setting sun through the back window, setting strands of straying hair on fire.
The hat was a little too big for his head, though, slipping over his eyes.
Rowan looked like a divorced father of two, dark circles bruising his eyes, and a very “dad-like” scowl curling on his lips.
With a clipboard pressed to his chest, and a pen he was chewing on, the boy resembled a grown man who had just caught his daughter coming in after curfew. “Josie.” Spitting the pen’s lid out of his mouth, he scribbled something down. I had no doubt he was tracking my attendance for these stupid crisis meetings. His eyes were wild, scanning me for answers. “Where the fuck is Carmel?”
I shut the door behind me, leaning against it with my arms folded. “So, we can swear now?”
“Yes.” Rowan rolled his eyes. “There are no kids here, so go crazy,” he pointed at me with the pen. “Carmel. Where is she?”
“Keeping the kids busy,” Callan’s muffled voice came from the bottom bunk. I could barely see the guy lying on his stomach, his face stuffed into a pillow. “It was my idea to play Shrek for them, but the little shits said they haven’t seen it,” the boy lifted his head, his lips carved into a scowl. “I’m sorry, am I tripping? Everyone’s seen Shrek! Do these kids expect the Minecraft movie?”
“They don’t like that, either,” Harry stopped pacing the cabin. “Eleanor looked at me like I was crazy when I asked if she liked it."
“Fortnite, too.” Olive said, a cushion pressed to her chest. “I suggested playing it a few days ago, and like, zero kids knew what it was.”
“Six counsellors are missing,” Rowan raised his voice over the other’s chatter. “And you’re questioning what games they like?” His eyes found mine once more. “So, Carmel is with the kids? You’re absolutely sure of it?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I mean, I just saw her five minutes ago.”
“Great.” Rowan said, sarcastically. “I’m sure she won’t go missing under mysterious circumstances.”
“Stop.” Olive shot him a glare, throwing a cushion in his face. “I told you. They’re probably lost—- or maybe they went to get help?”
“We’ve all been trained to know every inch of these woods,” Rowan catapulted the cushion right back at her. “They’re not lost.”
“Well, where are they?!” Callan sat up, bringing his knees to his chest. I had never seen the guy looked this vulnerable. “Allison made sense. She probably had other duties, and left us to look after the kids. But six counselors? All of them disappearing—- our phone signal completely cutting out, electricity cutting off, not once, but twice? What is even sucking all of our power?”
“I got the emergency generator working,” Olive raised her arm. “Connor and I managed it before…” she trailed off.
“Before Connor disappeared.” Callan finished for her. “And before him, it was Joey, Lily, Mira, Yuri, Noah, and Teddy. Which isn’t a fucking coincidence,” he shot Rowan a look, who glared down at his lap. I could tell the boy didn’t want to lead all of us, come up with plans and answer questions we desperately needed answering. His job was to look after us, as well as the littles, and so far, he was doing a pretty good job. I could tell by his expression that he thought the opposite, but he had managed to keep the kids from finding out about something as sinister as someone actively kidnapping counsellors.
He made sure they were fed, entertained, and safe watching a movie—while we were scared for our lives. Rowan was keeping up the façade no matter how scared he was. The boy dropped his head into his lap with a sigh. It looked like he might fall asleep before he slammed the clipboard into his face to wake himself up.
Nobody wanted to admit what Callan was saying, but we were all definitely thinking it. “This was planned.” Callan continued.
“Someone out here is fucking with us, very clearly trying to freak us out. Now they've got six of us. ” He spread out his arms. “How long until one of the littles gets taken, huh? A bunch of 18 year olds aren’t going to satisfy them, so what about when they start taking campers? We are in the middle of fuckin’ nowhere with a serial kidnapper on the loose, and did we really just leave fifteen kids in the care of a girl who thought Australia was in England?”
“In Carmel’s defence, she was black-out drunk when she said that,” Olive murmured.
“Voice down!” Rowan hissed. “Do you want to scare them?!” His gaze flicked to me. “Did you do a headcount during dinner?”
I nodded. “Fifteen kids all accounted for. Ten are in the lunch hall, and five girls are in Cassie’s cabin playing Operation.”
“All day?” Olive spoke up. “Weren’t they playing that this morning? I tried to get into their cabin to give them breakfast, but they just shooed me away and locked the door.”
“Fuck.” Rowan ran his fingers down his face. “Alright, I’ll go and see what’s going on with them. Knowing Cassie and her friends, they’re probably zonked out on stolen candy. When all of the kids are accounted for in the lunch cabin, we gather outside.”
I swallowed, speaking up. “I actually wanted to talk to you guys about something.”
Rowan lifted his head, jutting the edge of the clipboard into his chin. “Go on…”
“I found something?” I pulled a face. “I mean, think I’ve found something?”
I wasn't sure how to explain to a dwindling group of exhausted teenagers that there may be something even more terrifying than potential kidnappers out there. Four blank faces started back at me, and Rowan leaned forward with a frown. “Like, in general? Josie, we don’t have time to go foraging.”
“You could call it a lead,” I said. “But I need your eyes to find it.”
“Uh-huh. But what is it?”
Thinking back to what exactly I had seen, I had no idea how to describe it. “It’s better if I just… showed you.”
Rowan looked sceptical, but nodded. “Alright. Josie comes with me. We’ll check out Allison’s cabin again to look for an emergency line, and you can show me whatever this ‘thing’ is you’ve found. Then we’ll escort Cassie and the other girl’s to the lunch cabin. Every camper needs an escort from now on. The rest of you? Act normal. If the kids see you freaking out, they will also freak out—and we need to keep up morale.” The boy pointed to Olive. “Olive, you sit in with the kids and look after them. Callan, check out the emergency generator. Harry, the kids see you as a playground ride, so use that to your advantage. Offer them horse rides if they’re scared. And with the ghost stories, it’s making it worse. Give them piggybacks.”
Harry rolled his eyes. “Do I have a choice?”
“No.”
Rowan cleared his throat. “We all keep up appearances. If the others turn up, after getting high or… I don’t know, having an orgy in the woods—- I will fucking kill them.” The way he smiled through his teeth, jumping off the bunk, his toes primed like a wild animal, I knew he wasn’t joking. If this was a well-constructed prank the other counselors were playing, I had no doubt Rowan would rip them apart for leaving him as a reluctant leader. To my surprise, the others wandered off with their tasks.
I watched Rowan lift up his pillow and pull out a pack of animal crackers, ripping open the bag and pouring the contents into his mouth. He caught my eye, crunching through mini animal crackers. “I didn’t have lunch,” he said through a mouthful.
I couldn’t help feeling a sense of relief as we headed across camp, Rowan in front of me, while I lagged behind.
“So, what’s the plan?” I caught up to him, almost tripping over a log.
The guy didn’t turn around. “I am completely winging it,” he said through a choked laugh. “I have no idea what I’m doing, and if I’m honest? I just want to go home, dude. I haven’t looked after this many kids in my life, and if I have to smile one more time as a little brat, I am going to fucking lose my mind.” He heaved out a breath. “I am making this up as I go along.”
I laughed that time. “That’s… comforting.”
“Yeah?” He turned to shoot me a grin. “Well, rest assured I am just about as scared—if not more scared than you,” as we stopped in front of Cassie’s cabin, his gaze found mine. “Is it me…” he said softly, “Or does the lunch cabin seem quiet.”
He was right. The windows were dark when they should have been illuminated by the TV screen. Instead of answering, I stepped in front of him, grasping hold of the cabin door. “Cassie?” I knocked three times. “Girl’s, are you okay in there? It’s Josie and Rowan.” I tried the door, and it slid open. Shooting a look at the boy behind me, I turned back to the door. “We’re coming in, okay?”
“Wait!”
Cassie squeaked from inside. “But he’s not finished!”
Ignoring the coil of dread unravelling in my gut, I forced the door open and stepped into unusually milky white light which flooded the cabin. The first thing I saw was eight-year-old Cassie, sitting cross legged with her back to me. She was sitting in a circle with the other girls, no doubt playing their game.
When I stepped closer, however, I noticed something pooling across the wooden floor. It must have been juice or water that they had spilled. I took another step, but this time, clammy fingers wrapped around my wrist and yanked me back. Rowan didn't speak, but his eyes were elsewhere. Initially, they had been drinking in the cabin before they found oblivion entirely. I heard his breath start to accelerate, his grip tightening on my wrist.
I had half a mind to pull away, before I saw the body shaped carcass the girls were sitting around. In the dim light of the cabin, it used to be a person. Teddy. I could still see parts of an identity, freckled cheeks and eyes which were still open, still staring at the sky.
But that was where the similarities to the missing counsellor ended. The thing which used to be Teddy was more of a shell, a scooped out thing resembling a human body. What sent me stumbling backwards, my mouth open in a silent scream, was the almost surgical efficiency of each organ's removal, like it really was a game of operation. His heart, lungs, and intestines were in one pile-- while his brain was cupped between little Cassie's bloody hands— and when my gaze found the little girl, Nina, hiding behind dark curly hair, I was seeing what looked like a toy robot’s head in her hands. In my head, I was thinking about the eye with the metallic pieces glittering around its pupil, and something turned in my gut.
Did I find a human eye?
I was staring at the crevice inside the boy's skull, and the boxes of surgical equipment piled on the girl's bunks, when Rowan finally pulled me back, and I was stumbling straight onto my ass. "We need to go." Rowan spoke through a croak. Cassie’s words rattled in my head. Teddy, I thought.
Teddy wasn’t finished.
"Josie. Get up. Now!" My head was spinning, and I was sure I'd thrown up. I didn’t even realize we had managed to stumble from the girl’s cabin before cool air grazed my face, tickling my cheeks. Something wet and warm, and lumpy was spattering the front of my shirt.
Before I could coerce words, the boy was pulling me to my feet, and I was seeing stars in my eyes, blinking brightly. When the two of us started forwards in a run, Rowan stopped abruptly. I followed his gaze to find several kids surrounding his cabin, where Harry, Olive and Callan were. Maybe I was hallucinating, but Eleanor and Phoebe, both of whom wielding weapons where I had no idea where they had gotten them—looked… taller? Rowan didn’t waste time, dragging me back. “Allison’s cabin.” He spoke in cry which became a sob, pulling me across camp, stumbling over rocky ground.
“We need a phone. Fuck, we need a phone. We need a phone.” Rowan was struggling to stand, occasionally bending over and choking up dust.
“They were playing Operation."
Literal operation.
“But they’re just kids!” I choked out.
Little kids, who had surgically removed every organ inside Teddy’s body.
Little kids, who were hunting the other counsellors down, and would surely be coming for us.
Allison’s cabin was thankfully further into the woods. When we were safe inside and Rowan was locking the door, I dry heaved several times, unable to get the sight of glistening gore splattering the cabin floor from my mind. “Josie.” Rowan was already tearing apart the cabin. “Work with me here, okay? We don’t… we don’t have fucking time to freak out, or to barf—we need to help. Now.” Rowan was almost in tears, and when he hit the ground on his knees, I took over. I searched Allison’s desk first. Nothing of importance, just documents and invoices. Digging through her draw, there was still nothing. We were running out of time.
Abandoning the desk, I went through her suitcase and bags. When I was crawling under her bed to try and find a weapon, Rowan hissed out. “Wait.” When I turned to him, he was still kneeling, but his foot was clamping down on a loose plank. The guy didn’t hesitate, pulling at the loose plank, which, to my confusion, revealed what looked to me like a trap door.
Rowan turned to me. “You’re kidding.”
I could only stare at the trap door revealing stone steps. He peered down, his voice echoing. “Allison has a fucking secret bunker?”
His lips curved into a surprisingly childish grin which took me off guard. “Oh, wow, that’s so cooooool!”
Lifting my head at the sound of loud squealing, I glimpsed a group of littles led by Eleanor stalking towards us. Eleanor had a hostage. Harry. And with the way she was sticking the blade of a scary looking knife to his throat, I figured she meant business.
Their height difference was almost comical. The eighteen year old guy had to hunch over so the little girl could successfully keep him prisoner. Behind them in the trees, I could see something illuminating the dark, an electric blue light bathing their faces.
So, that was there the power was going.
But what the fuck were these eight-year-old’s doing?
“Josie!” Rowan hissed from down below. He had already climbed down.
I joined him, struggling down the stone steps, before replacing the loose plank. If these kids were as smart as I thought, it wouldn’t take them long to realize the loose plank—also a trap door. Allison’s bunker was more of a control room. There were multiple screens lit up, a chair in front of a working MacBook. The phone-line was cut. But that didn’t make sense.
The kids were unaware of the bunker, so who cut the phone lines? Rowan was on the laptop, struggling to get through the password protection, so I turned my attention to piles of cardboard boxes.
When I opened them, I found myself staring at animal crackers.
There were hundreds of them, packed on top of each other. Looking further, digging through the boxes, I found a piece of old crumpled paper which looked ancient.
REGARDING PROJECT SPEARHEAD SUBJECTS:
PLEASE DO NOT INGEST UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. IF MULTIPLE SUBJECTS INGEST, PLEASE USE SELF DESTRUCT.
ONLY USE IN CASES SUCH AS IMMINENT DESTRUCTION TO THE PLANET/THREAT OF NUCLEAR WAR.
(PLEASE CONTACT FAMILIES IN ADVANCE. MAKE SURE TO INGEST WITH WATER TO AVOID NEUROLOGICAL SYMPTOMS SUCH AS PSYCHOSIS, EXTREME VIOLENCE. PLEASE APPROACH SUBJECTS WITH CAUTION.
Something ice cold slithered down my spine.
Abandoning the boxes, I searched through a cabinet filled with files which were crumbling apart from age. I picked one at random and flicked through it.
Eleanor Summer’s.
Sex: Female.
DOB: 08/05/1977.
Initially, I thought I was reading the dates wrong. But then, with my heart in my throat, I was grasping for other files.
Eli Evermore.
Sex: Male.
'DOB: 08/03/1979.
“Rowan.” I managed to get out through a breath.
“Mm?”
“They’re not children.”
The boy rubbed his eyes, frowning. His eyes were half lidded, almost confused. “Huh?”
“Eleanor.” I whispered. “Is forty five years old.”
He nodded slowly, turning back to the laptop. “How do you spell… documents? I’m looking for digital versions but I can’t find any.”
“You don’t know how to spell documents?”
“It’s been a hard day.” The boy whined, tipping his head back and blowing a raspberry.
Whatever I was going to say was choked in the back of my throat, when a loud bang sounded from above, the sounds of childish giggling coming through the floorboards. But the laughter didn’t sound like little kids. No, it sounded like teenager’s who were acting like little kids. I stared at the boxes of animal crackers, and then at the file confirming Eleanor’s real age.
My own words shuddered through me, and I remembered finding Teddy’s dismembered carcass in Cassie’s cabin. When I had caught her gaze, the little girl didn’t look scared, and somehow, her fingers wrapped around the scalpel looked just right.
Like the little bitch knew exactly what she was doing.
“Helloooo?” Harry’s voice was a hysterical giggle. “Olly, Olly, Oxen freeee!”
“Are you in heeeeeeere?” Carmel joined in. I could hear their footsteps above, dancing across the room.
Clamping my hand over my mouth, I dragged my knees to my chest and prayed they weren’t smart enough to figure out we were right underneath them.
Knowing the truth about them, though? I wasn’t counting on it.
….
That was an hour ago.
We’re still stuck down here, and I can get a connection here—thank god. For some reason, Alison has blocked all social media. We need help. We’re at Camp Redwood, and these kids ARE NOT KIDS.
Whatever Project Spearhead is was designed to keep them here.
The phone-line is cut so we can’t get help from whoever was helping Allison. I am counting on you guys.
Get us out of here!